Today the games industry is uniting behind SpecialEffect, the gamers’ charity, for its annual One Special Day fundraising campaign. A range of firms, including retailers, hardware companies, and video game developers, will donate revenue from in-game purchases and sales to raise funds for the charity.
Since its inception in 2016, One Special Day has raised almost one million pounds for SpecialEffect. The UK charity – which uses video games and technology to enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities – doesn’t charge for any of its services and relies entirely on voluntary income, much of which comes from the games industry and gaming communities.
Supporters include mobile developer Seriously, which created the mobile game Best Fiends. By utilising its partnership with English Premier League football club Norwich City to publicise the campaign, Seriously has also arranged to provide match day advertising for the charity at tomorrow’s home game, as well as auctioning off signed shirts to boot.
“One Special Day is such an important fundraising event for SpecialEffect, particularly with the ever-increasing demand for our services,” said Dr Mick Donegan, Founder and CEO of SpecialEffect. “The support the event receives from the games industry is absolutely vital in making sure we can continue to reach every disabled person that wants our help to be able to join in and play.
“SpecialEffect is here and supporting disabled gamers because of the backing we receive from the games industry and their gaming communities. Without it, we simply couldn’t reach the number of disabled gamers we’re currently able to.”
To find out more about One Special Day, head to www.onespecialday.org.uk.
SpecialEffect also recently ran a games industry Chicken for Charity 2 PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds tournament. Partnering with The Koyo Store, the companies created a one-off pin badge in order to raise additional funds. Limited to a run of just 500, all proceeds raised by the “Chicken for Charity” went to SpecialEffect.
